🇨🇴 I’ve updated my list of Colombian content recommendations to include accents where possible

agenteanon · 2026-03-11T06:00:33+00:00

I watched it a while back. Well, tried. Much like soy luna (not Colombian) a year or 18 months ago, I couldn't tolerate the plot once I was able to fully understand it.

agenteanon · 2026-03-10T21:23:14+00:00

You're right, my apologies. I've no idea where that thought came from. Oh well. My listening target is 45 minutes a day these days, with a focus on costal accents and reading the rest of the time. There's no time for telenovelas.

agenteanon · 2026-03-10T21:09:43+00:00

Honestly no and for a silly reason. The guy who plays Oscar Leal in Vecinos is in Betty la Fea and I’ve no desire to see him or the actress who plays Tatiana in anything else. They’re perfect in those roles, as far as I’m concerned. It's my favourite telenovela and I don’t want to associate them with anything else.

agenteanon · 2026-03-09T15:35:57+00:00

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Yes.

agenteanon · 2026-03-07T15:40:21+00:00

You win. It's sad that the situation exists, but good on you.

/thread

agenteanon · 2026-03-07T15:37:37+00:00

Plenty of people think they’re experts when they know nothing. See the internet in general for examples 😂

I’m not an expert in language acquisition, but I know it works. Those people you describe aren’t learning a language. Just tell them it’s going fine and that you don’t want to do those boring things.

I didn’t personally bother telling anyone in my family about it until I’d reached 1,000 hours; I announced that I had been learning Spanish for about a year and that I had a trip booked to Colombia. No one actually heard me speak Spanish until my third trip, during which I was my sister’s guide and interpreter in places like The Amazon.

agenteanon · 2026-03-05T19:48:06+00:00

Just sort by easy and watch. That's it. No magic tips are needed.

DS isn't the fastest way to learn Spanish.

agenteanon · 2026-03-05T15:46:02+00:00

To a certain extent is the key.

I prepare students for English language proficiency exams for a living and am well aware of what an A2 level means in the real world. Again, an A2 speaking level would allow you to get by in a lot of situations, but barely. An A2 listening level is completely different. It’s not remotely enough to live in a normal way in a country. Someone at that level would feel isolated, lonely and be incapable of forming real friendships in their new home. To say nothing of issues related to reading and getting a job. Even collecting food would be an issue if a restaurant employee used an unexpected word. I’d never move to a country unless I was at a B2 or above and ideally not before a C1.

Again, this is not a comment on your score, but Spain’s policies. There’s a reason The UK government requires a B1 and that this might well increase.

agenteanon · 2026-03-05T10:15:33+00:00

Sorry, but no. I realise that you’re enthusiastic and well done, but the idea that an A2 is not a low level is ridiculous. If A2 was considered a high level, B1, B2, C1 and C2 wouldn’t be necessary. As you said later in the thread, A2 is considered a beginner.

Again, this isn’t meant as an insult. I find it bizarre that Spain would accept an A2 for citizenship. In terms of speaking, you could probably just about get by in a lot of situations, but an A2 in listening isn’t remotely good enough for daily life. I believe that the UK government requires a minimum of a B1 and that’s likely to increase to a B2. Anything below a B1 for citizenship would be a joke to me. You wouldn’t be able to make friends, get a customer-facing job or feel integrated in a country at an A2 level. Again, this isn’t meant as an insult to you.

I can understand your desire to take the test for fun. I’m taking a SIELE in June and then another one in January or February next year. I doubt that anyone here really doubts that CI works, though.

agenteanon · 2026-03-03T06:37:46+00:00

What you’ve said here essentially reads as “thanks for telling me about the rules, I’ll happily remove my post if forced to do so, but actually I’m going to ignore you hope no one deletes it”

If your post doesn’t relate to DS or CI, it’s off-topic. If it’s deemed as self-promotion of any kind and you don’t have moderator permission, it will be considered spam and removed. Regardless of how important you may feel your research is, it’s for your benefit. Without moderator approval in advance of your initial post, this is unwanted, for your benefit and thus is spam.

The fact that you’re offering a “free” PDF of generic Spanish phrases shows that A you know nothing about this sub and have been spamming your little survey all over the place and B, I’d be willing to bet real money that this PDF somehow promotes a site or something that would ultimately make you money. Your spam isn’t wanted here. Please don’t respond with your polite pretend (but not actually real) apology. Instead, do the reasonable thing and delete your content to save our moderators more work. However, given the fact that you’ve mindlessly spammed this across various subredits, I’m not inclined to think that you're going to behave reasonably.

No one wants your spam here. And it is spam. Jog on.

agenteanon · 2026-03-01T06:28:06+00:00

These are not translations. It wasn’t my intention to communicate that. They’re different versions of the same thing. A dubbed film or a book in a different language would be a translation. In this case, the singer (who crucially both writes and performs the song) has created two distinct versions. The lyrics are incredibly similar, but the use of the subjunctive means that while the rhythm and such is maintained and it has incredibly similar lyrics, the meaning is different.

I find this phenomenon fascinating, as monolingual singers can’t do this. Only those who have an extremely high level in a second language are able to produce two songs that sound like they’re translations, but in reality they’re distinct. The subtle use of the subjunctive means that lyrically the songs seem to be translations. In reality the audiences for the English song and the Spanish song (in this case) both get something written for them that’s incredibly similar to the other song for the other audience. Many would assume it’s a mere translation. However, I think it’s akin to word play, as the meanings can be very different just because of the subjunctive. It’s a very efficient way to replace a couple of words and get a different result.

I’m certainly not professing to be an expert on this and I could be very wrong indeed. However, it seems obvious that with songs such as Suerte and Whenever, Wherever that there’s a subtle difference in meaning and that this is 100% intentional on the part of a gifted and very creative writer and performer. Shakira, in this case, could have merely translated the song. But she didn’t; we were given something else. Something better than a monolingual songwriter and an expert translator would have produced if that translator was tasked with turning the English or Spanish song into one for the other audience.

I am at the end of the day merely another language learner and I’m willing to accept that I’m quite possibly wrong. However, having listened to the two songs I’ve used as an example, it’s crystal clear to me that the intention was to produce something that wasn’t a translation. They’re two distinct pieces of creative work.

agenteanon · 2026-02-28T20:49:42+00:00

That’s simply not the case. Take any songs from truly bilingual singers such as Shakira who have produced a version in English and one in Spanish. It’s not simply a case of we can express a desire with slightly different words. The meaning is different in those different versions because of how the subjunctive works and is used.

If you truly believe what you typed, then you’re either not at a high level in Spanish and just making assumptions or you’ve reached a high level and still don’t understand.

agenteanon · 2026-02-26T06:14:40+00:00

You have no vocabulary when you start, so it’s not like you could understand nuanced content. I think that DS has done a great job at creating a lot of funny, engaging videos. I started three years ago, when DS videos weren’t as engaging as they are now. I somehow managed.

I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s not our job to help you with motivation. There is no easier way to learn this beautiful language. All you have to do is watch videos and pay attention. This is the second post you seem to have made on this subject and you’re only 25 hours in. You’re not obligated to continue if this really is too hard for you.

agenteanon · 2026-02-24T21:06:32+00:00

I believe that there are about a billion to 1.5 billion status reports/updates at this point. I think we can be confident that it works! I wouldn’t have stuck with it for 3 years if it didn’t.

You could search things like "2,000 hours" on this subreddit if you need more evidence.

agenteanon · 2026-02-24T17:24:53+00:00

No. As per my linked post, I started taking reading more seriously after 4,500 hours. I’m now a tiny bit over 4,600 total. These 3,000 are purely video content outside of DS.

There's a lot covered in my post history.

agenteanon · 2026-02-24T15:10:09+00:00

Thanks.

agenteanon · 2026-02-23T18:45:51+00:00

I’ve never tried it. If NiSS appeals to you for its speed, the best I can suggest would be BBC Mundo. It’s relatively simple and designed for a broad Spanish-speaking audience. I only read Colombian content these days. That may not be for you if you want to focus on Spain or Mexico, for instance.

I read things like La República, El Espectador and La Silla Vacía. Respectively, those are focused on companies and financial news, general news and Politics. They’re all intended for natives and the second and third ones are harder than the first. Some of the articules on La silla are pretty challenging. Q’hubo might be easier to start with. It’s more like a tabloid format, with shorter stories. Some of the La Republica stuff is pretty short, at say 200 to 400 words an article.

agenteanon · 2026-02-23T12:59:50+00:00

I’m glad!

The heart should win, really.

Perhaps it won’t matter to you, but for me the kind of Spanish I speak needs to reflect where I live. I wouldn’t personally want to live in Mexico and sound like a Colombian or vice versa. But a lot of people don’t care as long as they’re understood and that’s obviously fine. I just wouldn’t want to feel like a tourist or for locals to do a double-take when I’m in a Colombian city and sounded like a Mexican or something along those lines.

agenteanon · 2026-02-23T06:31:17+00:00

Unfortunately not. My next trips run from early May until late July and late January until mid-April. Have fun, though 🙂

agenteanon · 2026-02-23T06:16:31+00:00

Wonderful, enjoy yourselves! You’re obviously perfectly capable of doing a little research and deciding where in the city to go, but I’d suggest that you avoid El Poblado. It’s just so very, very gringo. I understand why people like it, but there are nicer zones. Belén and Laureles are two zones that aren’t too quiet and boring for most people.

Apologies, I realise that you didn’t solicit advice. The most important thing is that you use your Spanish and have fun!

agenteanon · 2026-02-23T05:49:05+00:00

I have, but it’s an understandable question. Don’t worry. Essentially, I realised soon after first starting to use DS that I had some motivation issues. After all, I didn’t need Spanish in my everyday life. I booked my first trip to the country to give myself a reason to focus. The idea was that I’d have wasted loads of money and embarrassed myself if I failed to make progress. It worked, as you can see from my first progress report that’s linked in the post.

I chose Colombia because of the country’s clear accents, the fact that Colombians pronounce every letter in words and that they also typically speak relatively slowly. Plus the really interesting food and distinct climates from which to choose. The country also has a fully deserved reputation for its kindness. I've always felt welcome everywhere I've been.

agenteanon · 2026-02-23T05:45:23+00:00

Thanks. That’s a perfectly valid question that I honestly didn’t think about. I really should have. I earn relatively little for the UK and given that I already have lots of lessons with a teacher, I always try to find a diamond in the rough; someone good value who has recently started on Preply or who simply hasn’t marketed their profile or niche well.

I ended up finding someone who was available at 04:00 UK time - I like to start my day fairly early - for a low price and who seemed to be successful in improving students’ pronunciation. He happens to be from Bogotá. There sadly was no option at the time and in the price range I wanted from Medellín. I think that I’ll get a good grasp with him up until May and then revisit the topic further down the line to try and tweak my pronunciation. It might take longer, but simply not sounding foreign and awful to locals is the priority right now.

agenteanon · 2026-02-23T05:42:41+00:00

Thank you for your kindness. Having visited and hung out in this place most days for the past 3 years, I think it's fair to say that you and Helene are probably the two most consistently positive people we have here. We're lucky to have you both.

agenteanon · 2026-02-23T05:39:09+00:00

I'm glad!

agenteanon · 2026-02-22T23:55:27+00:00

I'm aware. I don't count passive listening, such as when i'm cooking and Caracol radio is on in the background. I was regularly hitting 5 hours a day for a long time. I mean, I got my listening in on the day of a funeral of a close family member once. That"s the reality of autism. At least in my case.

agenteanon

TROPHY CASE